look", intense cold blows into the u.s. along with record snowfall and thunderstorms for most of the country. gasoline almost half a buck cheaper and going lower as obama and boehner meet face to face to peer over the looming fist cliff. the latest on the death of the royal nurse. handcuffed man makes off with a police cruiser. and could hillary clinton be presented with an offer she can't refuse? very good morning to you, i'm veronica de la cruz. right now residents in the midwest are waking up to some of

the heaviest snowfall they've seen in two months. a low moving storm dumped more than a foot. 150 flight cancellations and delays at minneapolis st. paul airport. nbc meteorologist bill karins has been tracking those storms. it looks bad. >> impressive. ten inches in minneapolis. winter has arrived and in a big way through the middle of the country. the wind chills are brutal this morning. all of this mess is now sliding to the east coast. thankfully not the snow and ice. the storm itself is actually located over lower michigan heading up towards just north of buffalo. these storms in the winter that track up into canada drag warmer air to the east coast. that's why we're not worried about a big snow or ice storm on the eastern seaboard. it's going to be warm enough for severe thunderstorms, maybe damaging hail and wind. watching areas of alabama and northern georgia. twa

warm air up the east coast. all the cold air has been stored up towards alaska, fairbanks, all the way up towards central canada. the door has now been opened. the cold blast has made it down to texas. there's snow flurries not far away from areas like dallas this morning. as far as new england this goes, if you're traveling in the state of maine right now you have to deal with snow and freezing rain. that's the only spot where the cold air is holding on. it's turned to rain in portland and even rain in upstate, new york. it's plenty warm. it will be wet for yourself this morning. as far as the green bay area goes, minneapolis, just some light snow flurries this morning. we're not worried about that. further to the south, there is some rain out there pittsburgh south wrds. charleston, west virginia, you're dealing with rain. further to the south we have thunderstorms even to tennessee. we'll watch that. the east coast is not going to have problems like the midwest had where it's frigid.

veronica, areas on the east coast the airports are my concern. you have to watch that when the front comes through. later today airport delays. >> temperatures in the 60s. >> fall to the 40s tomorrow. >> you know how much i like that? >> i no he, right. >> bill, thanks a lot. getting around on some of those snow covered roads, might be presh rouse. at least drivers are getting a break on prices at the pump. the national average price has dropped by ten cents to $3.38 which is 46 cents than two months ago. the survey finds prices are expected to keep falling as refiners cut how much they're charging distributors and retailers. president obama and john boehner are keeping mum on their face-to-face negotiations on sunday. as the clock ticks down it appears some republicans may be softening their stance. nbc's brian moore has the very latest on this story. >> reporter: president obama and house speaker john boehner were

behind closed doors trying to break the tax and spending stalemate that threatens to take the country over the fiscal cliff in just over three weeks. meanwhile, one by one republicans are bowing to the president's demand that takes go up for the wealthy. >> will i accept a deal? >> yes. >> we don't have a lot of cards before year end. we have one house. that's it, the presidency and the senate. it's in the democrat's hands. >> since we agree with the democrats, 98% of the american people and 80% of the bush tax cuts, i would get that off the table now so they don't worry about it. >> democrats insist taxes are going up on the rich no matter what. >> if you don't increase tax rates 2%, you won't generate enough revenue to have meaningful deficit reductions. >> republicans want big spending cuts to programs like medicare and social security.

>> we don't want to be back here in another year or ten years answering the same questions. >> reporter: as talks continue on both sides of pennsylvania avenue, americans from main street to wall street wait to see who will blink first. brian moore, nbc news in washington. bad news in afghanistan. a navy s.e.a.l. was killed during a rate saving dr. dill lop joseph who was kidnapped by the taliban. he was working for morning star development. the rescue mission was launched because u.s. officials believed the to being tore's life was in danger. president obama said the special forces soldier gave his life for a fellow american. into syria, violence spilled over the border leaving 17 people dead. richard engel reports syrians are struggling to deal with the

blood shet. >> reporter: parts of syria that are controlled by the rebels, there is no talk at all to finding a peaceful solution. the trips and meetings of hillary clinton with the u.n. and her russian counterpart, there's no hope for a diplomatic solution. instead what the people talk about are the suffering of the people. this house was bombed by mistake. the people who lived here lived next to a rebel commander. now they're homeless. there is also tremendous economic difficulties here. the syrian currency is worth about half of what it was worth when the war began. a loaf of bread costs 20 times what it did just a few months ago. but despite all of this the rebels are making advances. they say they hope to soon control the city of aleppo, the country's commercial capital. after that, damascus. richard engel, nfc news. this morning latin music

fans around the world are lourng the death of jenny rivera. the 43-year-old grammy nominee and six others died early sunday when their small plane crashed in rough terrain in northern mexico. she performed a concert inman tore ray hours before the plane took off. the leer jet reportedly lost contact with air traffic controllers before takeoff. her brother said the family is devastated. josh brent is out of jail on bond of half a million after the death of teammate jerry brown. brent was freed yesterday after being charged with intoxication manslaughter in a vehicle accident early saturday. brent had a previous drunk driving arrest and faces up to 20 years in prison on this new charge. here is your first look at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. former house speaker newt gingrich believes hillary clinton would be nearly impossible to beat if she runs

for president and democratic strategist james cargo says 90% of democrats want her to run in 2017. cory booker says he will decide whether he will run for senate or against chris christie for goof nor. christie's approval rating is over 60%. washington state same sex couples began having weddings yesterday. former presidential candidate mitt romney and his wife ann went to the manny paciao fight yesterday. he said, i ran for president and i lost. the best quotes of the year. he has mitt romney's comments on the 47% as number one. number two was, can you guess? binders full of women. president obama got the third spot with his you didn't build that. a petition on the white house website called for congress and the president to

forfeit their pay and health care benefits until the fiscal cliff crisis is resolved. the petition has gotten more than 11,000 signatures but 25,000 are needed to get a white house response. president obama will have a private swearing in from justice john roberts on sunday, january 20th. the next day will be the official ceremony and the president's inauguration has decided to start accepting corporate and private donations this time to help play for the parade, the balls, all those other events. west virginia senator joe manson upset about a new reality tv show. he has written a letter to mtv demanding it be canceled. some are calling it the "jersey shore" of appalacia. >> y'all want to swim? >> for young, free and wild. >> that's wild. okay.

that's going to do it for your morning dish of scrambled politics. the fedex kufl and the best and cheapest travel days of the years coming up. plus, new details surrounding the death of one of the nurses where kate stayed in the hospital. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] it's that time of year again.

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welcome back. here are some stories making news this morning. two australian radio announcers who made the prank call to the british hospital broke their silence today to speak of their distress at the apparent suicide of the nurse who took their phone call. they said they were shattered and heart broken at the tragedy. secretary of state hillary clinton has a stomach virus which will delay by one day her trip to morocco for a meeting on the future of syria's opposition. check out this little guy, a monkey wearing a wool coat and a diaper shocked shoppers at an ikea store in toronto. the animal escaped from a car and its owner is now facing

charges for having an animal banned by law in montreal. from monkeys to penguins. they've joined the rank of santa's helpers. visitors can touch and take photos with these ping wins which are appropriately dressed in colorful holiday gear. some perfesuasion helped flip o the lights. stocks go up 13:155. overseas, the nikkei gained six, the hang seng climbed 85. and while wall street is watching for any new fiscal cliff developments, the folks at fedex will be hustling and bustling on their busiest day of the year. the shipping giant expects to make 19 million deliveries. that's thanks to this year's double digit growth in online shopping. there's also going to be a lot more packages to ship as

shoppers pick up green monday deals. all right. if you are flying home for the holidays, you had better book soon because one consumer group warns airfare goes up $10 a day after the second week of december and after the 19th forget about it. you want to save big, then fly on christmas or new year's day because those days are the cheapest. investors serious about getting a piece of the hostess pie must submit ofrs today. today u.s. and nikkei regulators will make a proposal for the too big to fail idea. they're selling to chinese investors. our sister network nbc sports teaming up with yahoo to share information on air and online. new york mayor michael bloomberg is putting in a bid for the

financial times group. >> pope benedict is a proud owner of two shiny new custom made mercedes popemobiles. in what else, mother of pearl white. excellent choice. all right. so what is with thieves these days? first, some dog nappers steal puppies. okay. and then a guy in handcuffs escapes out the back of a police cruiser and then gets into the driver's seat and steals the police car? huh? you're watching "first look" on msnbc. d a toy, it has to work. ♪ make just one someone happy and when it's a toys for tots child, well, what could be more important? so this year, every hasbro toy donated to toys for tots will be powered by duracell. happy holidays. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere.

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here is our "first look" at some of the other news going on around the country. a brazen car heiss. a texas police dash cam rolled as a handcuffed burglary suspect turned a police vehicle into his get away car. he easily escapes the back see the and gets behind the wheel. he floors it and vanishes. police are still on the hunt for this guy. texas police are also searching for a pair of puppy thieves who raided a pet store. they stole 8 puppies valued at more than $12,000. they expect they'll try to sell the dogs quickly. a maryland homeowner literally saw armed robbers in action but this is not your normal couple. the armed robbery, i guess you could say, was all caught on tape. they avoided the naughty list by

later returning frosty. thank goodness. finally, folks in the nation's capitol showed the holiday season is in full swing. standing near the national tree and just south of the white house the national menorah was lit sunday evening to celebrate hanukkah. the jewish holiday also known as the eight day of lights began at sun down on saturday night. in sports now, sunday night football right here on nbc. lions/packers with snow falling at green bay's lambeau field, detroit got out to an early lead. quarterback matthew stafford had trouble holding on to that slippery football. the packers turned it into a touchdown. there he goes, there he goes, there he goes, to go on to beat the lines, 27-20. quarterback eli manning threw for three touchdowns. they won 52-27. in other action, washington quarterback robert griffin iii sprained his knee but the

redskins beat baltimore on an overtime field goal 31-28. in minneapolis the vikings had a touchdown and 154 yards rushing. it was a 21-14 win over chicago. and check this out, louisville basketball coach rick pitino found out how hard it was from answering a cell phone, especially someone else's cell phone, during a post-game news conference. take a look. >> hold on one second. hello. i'm doing great. how about yourself? i'm just doing a press conference. where would you like to meet for a drink? >> the phone belonged to a sportscaster who was recording the event until it was interrupted by that ringing phone. well done, sir. and now for another look at the weather here's nbc

meteorologist bill karins with a weather channel forecast. bill. veronica, this storm is heading towards the east coast but not with the snow and ice. it's going to be a warm, windy, spring like day. look at the temperatures to start the morning, in the 40s and 50s. not worried about any icy roads. northern new hampshire to maine is the only spots you'll have to deal with a little bit of the winter ri precip. everyone else is pretty warm. on and off rain all of new england. the heaviest stuff up through providence and boston as we go through now up into the heart of the rush hour. we're looking okay from new york city south ward down i-95. this line of showers and storms will roll through. it will take a little time to get through here. not before the morning commute. before the line gets here of morning showers. maybe breaks of sunshine if we're lucky. temperatures up to 70 in dc, mid 60s in new york and then as the front goes through it gets much colder tomorrow. that cold air is right now centered in the hartland. look at these temperatures for

highs today, not even getting above freezing as far south as kansas city. that cold air will rush to the east coast behind the storm. veronica, it looks like as far as the snow, the ice, the blizzard conditions, the worst is over with everywhere. >> bill, that's some good news. thanks a lot. the iconic items for sale in casablanca. plus, "sky fall" lives to die another day. entertainment straight ahead. you are watching "first look" on msnbc. to visit his mom back east in a long time. [ shirley ] things are sometimes a little tight around the house. i wasn't able to go to the wedding. [ emily jo ] since derrell couldn't get home, we decided to bring home to him and then just gave him a little bit of help finding his way. ♪ [ laughs ] [ applause ] i love you. i love you, too.

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speaker boehner and i have spent some time together and we

would like to announce we have reached an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. you agreed to a 1% rate on the top two americans, just two people. i will dissolve social security. dissolve it. so we took it to the republicans in congress and what do they do? >> invited me to a pizza party. >> and when they got there -- when you got there, sir? >> it was a burned out warehouse. >> did you go inside? >> yes. >> and was there any pizza? >> no. >> and then what happened? >> they jumped out and pelted me with eggs. >> fresh eggs? >> rotten eggs. >> rotten eggs. all right. now on to some entertainment news. james bond made history again this weekend at the box office. "skyfall" won this weekend while becoming sony's highest grossing film of all time, taking in $918

million worldwide. the film is close to becoming the first-ever billion-dollar bond. not bad for a 50-year-old franchise. the piano from "casablanca" will be going up on the auction block in new york 70 years after the film's premiere. sotheby's says the piano could fetch over $1 million. noting the unique green and yellow color, something not seen in the black and white film. probably didn't know it was green and yellow, did you? most people would expect "gangnam style" singer to stay out of the spotlight after his anti-american here ex-from 2004. most people would be wrong, though. as the rapper performed for the president of the united states at christmas in washington sunday. spy released an apology for the lyrics saying i will be forever sorry. finally, yahoo released their most-searched movies of 2012. "the hunger games" came in number one. and comic book films in the two, three, and four spots. then "twilight: breaking down part two," rounding out the top

five. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because "way too early" starts right after this. you don't want to miss it. well, welcome to the second date with "way too early." not even a peck on the cheek after the first one. there was a lot of hot air moving through washington this weekend and, no, i'm not talking about joe a mikko or the temperatures. going morning. i'm bill karins. this is way too early. thanks for being up with this this morning. we have a lot of news to talk about on december 10th. ? in washington, closed door meetings with the president and john boehner. in the midwest, the fiscal cliff is the latest t